how many photoes, movies, documents does a 1T

My parents died and I have boxes of family pictures, about 12 VCR's, about 80 8mm movies, etc., that I want to download onto an external hard drive. With all of this, I want to burn this onto a DVD. I am using a HP laptop.

1. Is there a better external hard drive to consider?2. Would I be safe, purchasing a 1TB?

I suggest that instead of trying to place all of them on a hard drive that as you convert them to digital that you burn them to either CDR or DVDR as space permits. Keep the digital file on a hard drive and copy it to an external.

Label the disks as you make them. Converting the movies, etc is going to take some time. Once you have made CDs/DVDs of files you can easily and cheaply share them with family and friends. Buying optical media when on sale in 100 sleeves is the way to go.

You may want to tackle the VCR tapes first as they are probably easier to edit.

All that data isn't going to fit on one DVD or even 10. Single layer DVDR is rated at 4.7GB but in actual use you will get something around 4.4GB. The number varies slightly depending on weather you use + or - disks. While on that subject, stand alone players that connect to TVs don't necessarily play all formats. I suggest you check your equipment to find out which to use. I believe if only one type can be read it will likely be the - type. Slick with single layer DVDR- disks or CDR disks if files are smaller.

For help with your project try going to the link below. Lots of help there.

Sir, thank you so much for your explanation, time and patience! I will take your advice and "chip" at this one bit at a time. Do you have a preference to brand? Seagate or Western? What are the disadvantages of having a Portable Hard Drive verses a standard External Hard Drive?

I am not sure exactly what you are asking. If you are asking about external USB hard drives I suggest you get a 3.5" type with an 120VAC power adapter. Those are much more dependable. Look for a unit with good cooling. Preferably with a fan in the enclosure.

Many come with backup software pre-installed. That will only complicate things for your use. I am supplying a link below to a good online vendor and have filtered the results to include ONLY 3.5" with 120VAC power supplies. After selecting an item you can see the full specs and there are reviews. See what other thought of the product.

BTW, you really should have a desktop computer with an internal burner and you will also need a scanner for the photos. You can also take photos to many of the drugstores, or other locations to get them scanned. Can get pricey if you have lots of photos.

Each time the arial density is increased the chance of data loss increases. Drive makers are considering alternative methods to work around that. The heads must be aligned perfectly in order for the data to be retrieved. Also, because the data target on the platter gets smaller with each density increase the voltage required goes down. That means that the chances of the data not being written correctly increase. See the link below for more on this topic.

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